Quinoa Porridge [Sort Of]!

I think I'm going crazy. I am obsessed with grainy porridges. E.g. rice pudding, oat bran porridge, oatmeal, etc. The list goes on. Anything with carbs, really.

Today I decided to make quinoa porridge, which is quite a deviation from the norm since quinoa isn't really used in making sweet dishes [I think?]; it's usually used for salads or stir fries or soups or something savoury. Now I know why quinoa isn't used for porridge. It doesn't soften or get mushy or gluey, so it doesn't make a very gooey porridge.

I also added way too much honey [two teaspoons for about 3 cups of quinoa seemed pretty reasonable, but I guess I was wrong]. Actually, I think that the extra raisins also made the porridge super sweet. I doubt there will be a "next time", but if there were, I would definitely just cut out adding honey, since the raisins suffice in rendering the porridge to taste like some sort of textured candy.

CHILI SIN CARNE!

CHILI sans la viande - without animal pieces...instead, there are roman beans and lima beans and TVP and pickles and artichokes and tomato and parmesan and onion and crushed up tortilla chips [the leftovers].

A.k.a., awesome-everything-I-love-chili!

In fact, this chili even looks better than these here! YAY! This is just to prove to my brother that my plating, in fact, is not substandard [I've never really liked the idea of plating though, because it makes food appear more as an ornament than as a food].

Onions, artichokes, pickles, getting "gently browned"

Rehydrated TVP with dried chili and tomato paste marinade.

Adding the lima beans!

Ingredients:

1. A LOT of water. Keep adding cups of water throughout the.... 3-4 hours it takes to cook. I was initially going to make tomato/chili soup but that would mean that I used twice the amount of water. Which would've required a larger pot. Which I do not possess.

2. Lots of tomato paste!

3. Garlic

4. Onions! LOTS!

5. Pickles

6. Artichokes in oil - we have a jar of them. I don't know why, since no one in the family except for me and my brother has actually ever heard of the term "artichoke" before. I don't know who bought these... just that they've been sitting in the fridge for a while. Well, at least it covers the "oil" part of the chili.

7. Two cups of Roman beans. Soak these for a few hours. They take AGES to cook.

8. Half a cup of lima beans. They swell TREMENDOUSLY when soaked for a few hours. Literally 2.3 times their original sizes.

9. Half a cup of dried TVP, mixed with two cups of water and one scoop of tomato paste and two packets of dried chili. This way, the flavour gets "infused". Supposedly.

10. One cut up Boca burger since I dislike eating them grilled.

11. Leftover tortilla chips with the salt at the bottom.

12. Herbs - oregano, basil.

13. Quinoa, just because.

Method:

Cook everything on low heat for a few hours in a giant pot. Cook for an hour, turn off the heat, and go to XC practice for three hours. Come back later at around 9:30pm and continue letting the stuff simmer on low heat, adding water every now and then. When the roman beans are done, the chili is ready. The roman beans determine the cooking time!!

I wonder who else makes chili at 10:41 pm.

I ended up with a lot of chili. Look at that! Three boxes of chili. BUT IT'S AWESOME BECAUSE I LOVE CHILI!

The last time I made chili was the first day of school last September. It wasn't as great as this one. This one is "awesome-sauce"ly thick and beany and protein-filled! And it DOES NOT taste bland... for those of you who think vegetarian stuff is "rabbit food". It is NOT.

Quinoa Salad.

So, I am obsessed with the quinoa salad thing from yesterday. The sweety-soury-light taste was so great... so I tried to replicate it, by using this recipe. Evidently, it's flawed, because lemon juice and cilantro are mentioned in the method, but not in the ingredients. Basically, though, I ended up with something similar... and I think that the reason I enjoyed the quinoa salad was not the salad dressing, but actually the quinoa itself. Which is quite awesome, as I've been stuck [or, "glutened"] to wheat, rice and semolina. Oh, and corn, of course, in the form of tortillas. However, I've never really had quinoa in my life, because I never bothered putting some on the stove and actually cooking it. Microwaving stuff is NOT really cooking. It's defined as a "shortcut/time saver" in my opinion, so I do like microwave ovens.
Anyway... It tasted sorta similar, sans dressing, and no one in the family ate much. My dad doesn't eat raw onions, my sister eats nothing healthy, my brother thought that the raisins ruined it...you get the picture. But, truth be said, they're biased because they've never had/probably won't like Mediterranean food. It's like me being a vegetarian. Choices.

South Pacific

Yesterday evening was prom. I didn't go, because I'm not interested in the over-$200-for-the-ticket-and-the-dress-and-shoes-and-blah. I also don't like dancing much. I actually wanted to see the preprom, because then I'd see people in their dresses and stuff, and hot guys in their tuxes, but I think it wouldn't've made much of a difference to my level of happiness, mingled with exhaustion. A, SL and I went to NYC to watch South Pacific, on 65th. I've never seen a musical before, so I found this rather intriguing. Though, despite the awesome performances [as in, Very. Talented. They know the words and lyrics so well...it almost seems real, along with the shifts in scenery and the wonderful orchestra], I don't think that musicals are my thing. It was an experience, though, sitting in that theatre at the very back [and thus, the very top], and seeing every motion happen fluidly before my eyes.

Anyway, we went to a Medditeraean restaurant, Nanoosh, on 68th and Broadway, before our show began. We had to wait for 20 mins or so, which really sucked because we were sort of pressed for time. They have approximately 56 seats in the store, and it was PACKED! However, as soon as we got seated, all the other tables started clearing up, too, which was rather upsetting. [Hah]. I got this Labane wrap, which was ridiculously DELICIOUS. Labane is actually this yoghurt cheese, and it's still sour... it actually tasted just like thick yoghurt. I think I'm going to start putting yoghurt in my sandwiches, because of this. Oh yeah, there was quinoa salad. It. Was. The. Best. Quinoa. I have. Ever. Had. It was sweet, with raisins and cranberries, but also sour. Ahhhhhhh.

SL got some hummus with sun-dried tomatoes, and A got a mushroom hummus wrap. They also got this pomegranate tea, but I personally don't like pomegranate. We managed to consume everything in 15 minutes. Which was... kind of sad, because we had to, since we were pressed for time, but I would honestly have rather savoured the meal for 30 minutes.